


Gunpowder rhapsody

by tatch



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Gabriel acts like an asshole when he feels like crap, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Rating May Change, Reaper76 - Freeform, Smoke monster husbands, Undercover
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-05
Updated: 2017-02-19
Packaged: 2018-09-06 14:13:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8755726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tatch/pseuds/tatch
Summary: Down a path so worn out, stained red by our handsAnd when the day reveals our scarsI need you here right by my sideTo laugh again when life gets dark





	1. Desolation blues

 

 

Jack coughs. The dust from the explosion is everywhere, floating here, plastered there, slowly covering corpses all around them. The corridor they’re in hasn’t collapsed by some miracle, but it’s only a matter of time before it does, cracked ceiling, walls blown, metal exposed. There are voices in the distance, calling out his name. He’s got blood running down his face from a couple of deep cuts. A hand brushes his elbow. 

“We can’t stay here any longer. Place ain’t safe anymore, Morrison.” 

Gabe looks worried, a bit dazed, his other hand pressed on the wound in his side. 

“It’s worse than I thought. I knew some of them.” He hisses. 

“Dayan, joined 6 years ago, excellent sniper, always wore something blue on herself. She tried to knife you. Colin, joined 3 years and 5 months ago, I personally supervised his hand-to-hand training. He set the bomb off.” He shakes his head. “Your secretary came at me with a shotgun. You’d picked him yourself.” Gabe’s dark brown eyes, black in the low light of the hallway, lock onto his. 

“We can’t trust anyone anymore.” 

Jack gulps, his chest tight with guilt. It’s not like them to abandon anyone, to step out of the fight, crawl into a hole and wait for things to get better. The voices are closer but still distorted by distance.  

“We can still fight.” 

He searches Gabriel’s eyes and finds a fierceness that matches his. 

“We’re not running away, Jack. We need to regroup and decide a course of action, that’s all.” Gabe shakes his head again. “We can’t trust anyone now.” His teeth are gritted, his jaw tense. 

Jack knows that he’s thinking of McCree, that Gabe has come to consider the kid like the son he’s never had. Thinking that someone so close to them, that any of their friends could be in on this, hurts. But it’s impossible to know how deep the betrayal runs. The voices are very close now. 

“Commander, commander, are you there?” 

Jack turns his head in that direction. 

“Jack, answer us!” Angela. 

He brushes Gabriel’s forearm. His companion is tense, hands drifting to his guns, eyes darting to the place from which their friends voices are coming. 

“Whatever your plan is, I trust you.” 

Gabriel’s gaze snaps back to him. Jack nods lightly, once. 

“Let’s go.” 

Gabe nods back and turns, moves swift and silent. Jack follows. It’s as if they were never there.

 

* * *

 

“You’re not gonna like this.” Gabriel warns him before explaining his plan. Once he’s done, Jack wants to both punch him, and kiss him. Because his plan is both brilliant, and absolutely insane. If anything, anything, goes wrong, they’re screwed. And with Overwatch disbanded and the both of them having been legally declared dead, it’s not a situation they would escape easily. They’d probably die. Jack considers Gabe’s plan once again. 

Gabriel would become a mercenary, do horrible things, work for terrible people, stain himself to gain access to intel from the underworld. Mob, gangs, terrorists, private armies, assassins, he’d do them all. Cloak himself in shadows to walk freely in the light. 

Jack would become one of those vigilantes they used to enroll into Overwatch’s ranks, steal from old bases, dismantle operations, gangs, use Gabe’s intel, do good while remaining concealed. Be an invisible light in the dark. It’s ironic, really. It’s like they’ve switched jobs, Gabe becoming the visible part of the iceberg, while Jack works in the shadows. Gabriel would let him have the mercenary part, after all, he’s never been comfortable being in the spotlight, but they both know that Jack can’t play that part, would never be able to sell the heartless cold-blooded killer they need for this to work. 

Jack huffs a laugh. Gabe’s sitting by his side, tired and a bit jumpy, still convinced that they’re not quite out of the fire yet. Jack leans against the warm solid body, letting his head rest on his best friend’s shoulder. 

“Okay, let’s do it.” 

Gabriel relaxes incrementally and wraps his arm around Jack’s shoulders, drawing him closer. He rests his chin on top of Jack’s head. 

“Just you and me against the world.” 

He couldn’t have wished for a better partner.

 

* * *

 

The abandoned Overwatch bases provide them with all the equipment they could need. Gabriel can’t really come with Jack, gotta work on their cover already, but it doesn’t mean he’s not keeping an eye on things. 

“Move it, Seventy-six, your window’s closing.” 

Jack had picked the name himself, but the uniform was all Gabe. Gabriel had rolled his eyes at his choice but there had been a smirk at the corner of lips, an amused spark dancing in his eyes. Declaration of Independence made for a good reference for an American vigilante, right? 

Jack surges forward, zipping under the closing door. “I’m in.” 

The uniform gives him a certain amount of camouflage, letting him pass right through lasers, absorbing light and making him near invisible in the dark. The dark goggles give him some amount of night vision, and highlight targets. The mask filters the air and offers some anonymity. Gabriel insisted on the armor he wears underneath it all, a protective but light alloy covered by a nano-mesh, that deflects bullets at a distance.  

“Welcome, Commander Morrison. It is good to see you are alive and well.” 

Oh, right. 

“Nice to see you too, Athena.” 

Gabe whispers instructions in his ear, giving him codes that Blackwatch used back in the day to avoid surveillance. 

“Athena, activate Protocol New Moon. Code Oscar-Bravo-Lima-India-Two-Two-Tango-Uniform-Sierra.” 

“Code accepted. Protocol New Moon activated.” 

The goggles inform Jack that the surveillance system has been deactivated. All he’s gotta do is not to forget to wipe the drives before leaving and he’ll be in the clear. 

“What’s the twenty-two for?” 

Gabriel grumbles in response. 

“C’mon, you can tell me. Who am I gonna tell?” 

“The day we met. Twenty-second of December.” His partner finally relents. 

“Cute.” 

“Shut up, Morrison.” Touchy. 

“Make me.” Somewhere far, far away, Gabriel snorts a laugh. 

“Even I can’t do that.” 

“Fair enough.”

 

* * *

 

“Stay away.” Gabriel’s been contaminated by … something. By the looks of it, it looks like a nano-virus of some kind. Gabriel’s shaking, curled on himself, his form evaporating into tendrils of nanobots, reforming seconds later, clouds of dark smoke, silhouette wavering, on the brink of vanishing. 

Jack approaches. 

“I mean it, Morrison.” 

Closer. 

“Jack.” 

Closer. 

“Jack, please.” 

He kneels, puts a hand on Gabe’s cheek, tilting his head towards him. 

“Don’t.” Gabe whispers, desperate, through fading away lips. 

“Not letting you walk out on me that easily.” And Jack kisses him. 

Lips meet lips, parting slightly, a cloud of nanobots invades Jack’s mouth, roaming his chest, spreading in his body. He chokes a bit. Pain blooms and he feels cold, so cold. His vision blurs, he clings to Gabe like a lifeline. Together in life and death. Too bad he’d always been too afraid to make a move. Does this count as a move? 

But then the pain recedes. 

“Fucking idiot.” 

Gabriel’s form is solid again against under his hands. But he remains… blurry. Jack squints, trying to see better. Something’s wrong with Gabe’s skin. It’s become clearer in places, a pale yellow-brown. 

“Gabe, something’s wrong with my eyes.” He hears Gabe sighs. 

“Not your eyes, dumbass.” 

Gabe moves away, far enough that Jack can’t see him anymore. His knees hurt. The fuck’s going on. 

“You like my dumb ass.” 

The sound of things being moved around, a crate being forced open. 

“There it is.” 

Gabriel comes back to him, coming in focus as he comes closer. He’s holding something red, a helmet of sorts, or maybe a set of very big glasses. 

“Put that on.” 

He puts the thing in Jack’s hands and, when Jack doesn’t move, still uncertain of what the red thing is, Gabriel huffs and puts it on his face, right over his faulty eyes. Glasses then. A spike at his temples, and then Jack’s sight is clear again, better than before, actually. 

“What happened?” 

Gabriel throws him a small hand mirror, the kind they use to check around corners. Jack blinks. His hair is white. He has wrinkles. He looks… old. 

“Huh.” 

“Huh? That all you got?”  Gabe throws his arms in the air, upset. “You could have died, you fucking idiot!” 

Jack gets up (god, he feels old) and walks right into Gabe’s personal space, grabbing him and pulling him in when the man tries to step back. They lock eyes. There’s a faint buzz, a hum when they touch. 

“Jack, what are you doing.” 

“I trust you.” 

Gabriel stops struggling. One of his eyes has dots of blue in it now. Odd. Jack kinda likes it. He leans in, whispering just a breath away from shaped, tantalizing lips. 

“You and me against the world remember?” 

There’s a clearer patch of skin, going down Gabriel’s neck, disappearing under black armor. 

“Just you and me.” 

A breath away, only a breath away. 

“Can’t let you die on me.” 

Eyes search his own and lips part, a soft sigh escaping Gabe. Jack is pulled in and he crashes into Gabriel. There’s nothing gentle, it’s all desperation and anger and adrenaline and love, tamed and kept quiet for so long. They kiss and Jack expects pain, but there’s nothing except that hum, and a spark that dances where they meet. Jack is the one that has to pull away first and take a long gulp of air because apparently, Gabe doesn’t need to breathe anymore. His mate buries his head in the crook of Jack’s neck, huffs lightly. 

“I still think you’re an idiot.” 

And Jack laughs.

 

* * *

 

They move from Blackwatch base to Blackwatch base at first, then start settling everywhere and nowhere, always taking the bare minimum with them. They travel light, stay alert. Gabriel likes boats, Jack hates planes. They both love long open roads, hours of travel with no city, no building, no nothing in sight. 

Jack lays his long legs on Gabriel’s thighs, his lover’s hand coming to rest on them by habit, tension bleeding out of them after days, weeks, months of uninterrupted work, leaving them relaxed for a time. Soldier Seventy-six and the Reaper are put to rest for the time of a trip, and Gabriel and Jack poke and tease and laugh, the strings of love weaving an indestructible bond between them. 

So really, Jack should have expected something like this, as Gabe bribes the captain of their cruise into marrying them on the boat. Gabriel had never even showed him a ring before that day. Yet, Jack shows up on the deck and there’s his lover, waiting next to the captain, who’s grinning happily at the surprised old man Jack is. 

“Get your sorry ass over here, Jack” 

He stumbles forward, a grin splitting on his face, tears of joy blooming in his eyes. 

“You love this sorry ass.” 

Gabe snorts. “Yes I do. Now c’mere, and marry me already.” 

They board on one side of the lake as travelers, friends, partners, lovers, and land on the other side as an old married couple.

 

* * *

 

When they lay late at night, early in the day, lazy and quiet, Jack can see darkness in Gabriel’s eyes, haunting, taunting, speaking of horrors he shouldn’t want to know about. He grabs and hugs and, like bad teeth, he pulls the words out of his husband, a low, hoarse but steady stream of murmured confessions that spin and paint a picture of a world so much darker than the one they used to live in. Corruption and wars, death and poverty, gangs, terrorists, machinations, schemes, everything's slowly tipping into the dark. And all’s being orchestrated by one person, one group, one organization. As they lay, limbs entwined, breaths mingled, light pushing against dark and dark melting against light, Jack sometimes prays.

 

* * *

 

“Are you sure they’re coming this way?” 

“Convoy will be here in five to ten minutes.” 

Jacks hums, signaling he’s received the message. Now all he’s gotta do is wait and- 

“Seventy-six !” 

He turns on his heels and points his pulse rifle at ... Winston? What is the scientist doing here? Jack knows that Gabriel did his best to rile the ape up into sending an Overwatch recall and re-forming the organization, so that the heat of the hits Jack was performing against Talon, amongst others, would fall back onto someone else, and keep Jack safe. 

He keeps his rifle pointed at Winston, not wavering a single moment. 

“You’re Soldier Seventy-six right?” 

What was true about a decade ago is still true today. The only ones Gabriel managed to fully clean were McCree and Shimada. 

“What do you want?” He grunts.

Tagging alongside Winston are Tracer, Mercy and that DJ guy from Brazil, the one who’d fought the Vishkar Corporation to free his neighborhood. Lucio something? 

“We’d like you to join us. We’re-” 

“Overwatch. I know. I heard the recall.” 

“You’re Overwatch too then, love?” Tracer zips by, getting closer than he feels comfortable with. 

“Was.” Jack lowers the rifle. 

This wasn’t supposed to happen. They’ve got nothing planned for this situation. He presses on the commlink in his ear. 

“What’s the ETA?” 

“Five minutes tops. Why?” 

“We’ve got company.” 

“What kind?” 

“Overwatch.” 

Mercy chimes in. “You’ve got a partner?” 

“Whoever they are, they’re welcome to join us as well, of course.” Winston says, punctuating his sentence with a nod. 

Jack huffs a laugh. 

“What’s so funny, man?” It’s that Lucio guy. 

Jack ignores him. Five minutes too short to answer the barrage of questions he’s sure they have. 

“What do you wanna do?” 

Gabriel sighs. “What do you think we should do?” 

“What do you mean?” 

“Decision’s yours.” 

“Are you insane?” 

“I trust you.” Jack blinks, suddenly breathless. “You’ve followed me this far, I’ll abide by whatever choice you make.” 

Jack takes a few deep breaths. 

The group in front of him is becoming nervous. He can’t take that kind of decision on the fly. 

“Let me think about it.” 

“Convoy’s in the street next to yours, get moving.” Shit. 

“Quick, hide!” Jack says, ushering the small company to the safety of the alley he’d come from.

He has outfitted it with a few holographic meshes and a biotic field, should things go sideways. Jack waves for the team to plaster themselves against the wall. Then he waits. 

“What was that for, ma-” Jack slaps his hand on Lucio’s mouth, cutting him off, just as the sound of the convoy starts coming into the street. The visor helps him keep track of the Talon agents that are escorting the large truck, even through walls. One of them shines a light into the alley, inspecting it quickly, moving on as he sees nothing, the holographic meshes doing their job properly. The convoy passes slowly by. Jack turns, checking on the team. 

There’s respect and a bit of surprise on their faces, in their eyes. 

“You were waiting for them, planned it all.” 

Jack shrugs. He’s done this a thousand times by now, there’s nothing new for him. 

His commlink crackles, a soft whisper in his ear.  “I’m in position.” 

He loads the rifle and jumps out of cover, running into the middle of the street and shoots rockets at the convoy, then runs to cover in the alley on the other side of the street. Those rockets aren’t of the explosive kind he usually uses, no, these are EMPs. They explode and everything shuts down, comms, lights, cameras, the convoy is entirely cut-off. He can tell that Winston’s team comms have suffered the same fate.  His own haven’t, having been built especially to be able to withstand this kind of aggression. 

He pushes on his comm-link, giving the green light to Gabriel. “You’re up.” 

And Gabe does that thing where he teleports right in the middle of the convoy then deploys a heavy fog of nanobots. He shoots without looking, the bots informing of each and every being’s (that isn’t himself) position inside of the cloud. 

Jack comes out of cover and takes down the few that manage to escape the fog. He has seen Gabriel do that thing before, both in character and, like now, when working a job with Jack. The differences are impressive. When in character, he sells the blood-thirsty mercenary so well, a stream of ‘Die, Die, Die, DIE’ on his lips, a dark sadistic laugh rumbling in his chest. But right now, he’s eerily silent, swearing in Spanish if a target escapes him but that’s all. 

Finally, he pulls the nanobots back to himself, checks the truck for what they came for and, after wraithing onto a roof nearby, throws a couple of grenades under the truck. 

Winston and his group come out of the alley, eyes bulging a bit, staring at Gabriel. “Is that Reaper?” 

The grenades explode, the team turning away from the explosion, covering their faces and Gabe throws the datapad they’d come for to Jack. He then leave, running away on the rooftops. Jack starts running too, into the alley he’d taken cover in, in the direction opposite to Gabe’s. 

His companion’s voice resonates in his ear. “So?” 

Gabriel can’t see him but Jack shakes his head anyway. 

“Not yet.” 

There’s a noncommittal hum coming from Gabriel. “Okay. Let’s go.” 

And then they’re gone without a trace, ghosts in the wind, dancing amongst shadows.

 


	2. Dead men's lullaby

 

Gabriel runs, rooftops passing like a blur under his feet. Talon will probably call him to protect the next convoy, maybe even to try and get the datapad back. Overwatch’s unexpected presence had been a nice touch. There’s a big chance that Talon would focus on them, leaving him free rein to really browse through files, get Sombra to hack a few databanks and getting the terrorist organization off of Jack’s back.

Gabriel turns left, heading to the old Blackwatch base in which he’s supposed to meet back with Jack. The soft sound made by whoever is following him doesn't falter, keeping up with him. It’s not everyone who can match his speed, all while remaining hidden. Oh, this is gonna be fun. He jumps down and enters the open space that he knows is littered with couches and cushions. Gabriel sits, crossing his legs and waits. There’s a guitar, set against the couch next to him, that looks suspiciously like the one Jack offered him a couple of years ago. The soft patter of running feet keeps going on the roof, all the way to the other side of the building, then stops. Gabriel grabs the guitar, inspecting it. It doesn’t have that large set of scratches around the bridge, so it’s not his, but he wouldn’t be surprised to learn that Jack got his present from somewhere nearby. The man on the roof is good, Gabriel gives him that, the sound of his footsteps no longer audible. But he can’t stop the sound of the tiles clicking softly or the way the wood beams underneath sigh quietly under his weight, as he moves back to the door through which Gabriel entered, slowly, carefully, obviously expecting a trap. Gabriel snorts. Might as well give the kid something.

He plays a few notes, a coded message that only Blackwatch agents would understand. Unlike Overwatch, who only has a sign language for coded messages, Blackwatch had three completely different codes. A visual one, that could be written and passed to others. A signed one, to carry messages when one couldn’t speak. And a sound one, that could be heard from afar and disguised into music or soft meaningless taps. The soft strings, almost snapping under the sharpness of his talons, let out notes that mean ‘safe’ and ‘come in’. He plays a few meaningless chords, a long forgotten tune, and then repeats the message. If he’s right about the one stalking him, he should be coming in any second now. And if he’s not, well, he can still get rid of the nuisance. The soft huff of air being displaced on the balcony, a shadow and then green light, as the cyborg lets the lights of his circuits shine and comes in, still distrustful but willing to at least talk. Genji sits on one of the cushions, just far enough that if Gabriel was to lunge at him, he’d be able to dodge. Gabriel smirks behind his mask. He’d trained the kid well, good to see it had not gone to waste. He moves a hand away from the frets and starts signing.

**Status ?**

The way Genji’s head tilts just slightly indicates that he has noticed the signing. The kid’s hand moves, coming to hover in front of himself, as he signs back.

**Fine. You ?**

**Undercover.**

It takes a moment for the kid to put two and two together but when he does, his shoulder relax and he leans back. Gabriel pulls on the strings a bit, a few chords resonating in the silence. Genji seems lost in thought.

 **Need assistance?** He finally signs.

Gabriel snorts.  **Covered.**

Genji nods but there’s some sort of tension in the kid’s posture. Gabriel sets the guitar aside, sighing internally. The signed language they’re using is good to avoid detection but it has its limitation.

“You’re here for the recall.” Gabriel states, his voice even and void of emotion.

There’s that tilt of head again, a barely there move that indicates assent. “You aren’t.”

“No.”

“Is there a reason I should be aware of?”

This time, it’s a question, and Gabriel mulls over whether he should tell the kid or not, about how much he can tell him without endangering him, and them too much. It’s a gamble. He knows the kid himself isn’t part of the conspiracy, checked him more than once and kept an eye on him even when he went to that monastery, but what if Genji trusts someone who isn’t? On one hand, it would be nice to have more comrades, more partners to count on but it’s also a risk. Choices, choices.

Gabriel sighs, takes a decision. “Overwatch isn’t safe.”

Genji tenses, his gaze locked onto Gabriel’s form. He hums softly after a moment.

“If what you are saying is true, then there is a place I need to be.”

Gabriel hums questioningly.

“I told my brother to come and join Overwatch. I must warn him.”

Genji gets up swiftly, turning as if he was about to leave. “Do you- “ The kid cuts himself. Gabriel stays silent, waiting. A sigh. “How did you know to trust me?”

Gabriel snorts a laugh and the kid’s head snaps back at him. There’s that tension in his posture again. Recognition and uncertainty. The kid recognized the laugh, knows he’s heard it somewhere before but hasn’t associated it with a face or a name yet. Gabriel grins a bit under his mask. He did a fine job when he taught this one.

His commlink suddenly crackles. “Overwatch’s at the rendez-vous point.” Shit.

Gabriel gets up, presses the tip of a talon to the comm in his hear. “Go to the secondary point, I’ll join you there.”

“Roger.”

He then turns and faces Genji again. “I kept an eye on you, checked if you were... clean.” He shrugs, dismissing the hard work he’d done to clear Jesse’s and Genji’s names, as if it’d been child’s play (which it hadn’t). “You were.”

“Are there others that can be trusted?”

“McCree. Soldier Seventy-six.”

“You?”

Gabriel tilts away, looking to the door and the balconies. “To some extent.”

The kid seems to understand. As long as it doesn’t blow his cover, Gabriel will be on his side.

Genji nods, takes a few steps toward the balcony, but instead of taking off, he lingers.

“What should I call you?” He asks. His hand however sign a completely different question. **Identity?**

Gabriel stills for a second, then answers. “Reaper.”   **Commander**

There’s no way for him to sign his name, his rank will have to do. Genji nods, tension bleeding out of him, and finally leaves, the lights of his body shutting off the moment he jumps off the railing. Gabriel closes his eyes, sighs. Things are starting to move.

He presses on his commlink again. “Be there in fifteen.”

 

* * *

 

Gabriel hums contentedly. This is so worth the trip. The owls on his shoulders blink owlishly, regularly turning their head towards him, staring the other customers away, bodies unmoving. He has two on each shoulder, one on each (gloved always gloved) hand and a bigger one on his left forearm. A blissed out grin is fighting his way onto his face, trying to replace the easy smile that’s already there. In front of him, Jack chuckles, mirth in his eyes. “I should take pictures for the kids.”

Gabriel hums, too happy to care. He fucking loves owls and for some reason, birds were pretty much the only type of animal that didn’t flee when he approached. It was actually the opposite. Ever since his ‘accident’, it was as if they were attracted to him, perching all around him or, like now, on him if they could. Gabriel wasn’t complaining, even though it had lead to a few weird situation, like that time when a crow and an owl wouldn’t get off his shoulders and he had sat through a whole meeting with some Talon higher-ups with two hissy birds that only calmed down when he petted them. It had been a fun day, Gabriel grinning hugely behind his mask, the Talon operatives being weirded out but apparently somewhat relieved by the birds presence (it may have made him nicer, he couldn't remember). Some of them had even taken to bringing live birds whenever they had to meet with him. Sombra and Amélie had both started offering him little bird themed trinkets shortly after that. Funny.

Jack smiles, his eyes wrinkling at the corner. One of the smallest owls had decided to take a nap on his shoulder and he was doing his best not to wake her up. He has his camera in hand now and he takes a few pictures, a soft laugh on his lips. Gabriel huffs. All the owls suddenly turn their heads to Jack, glaring at him. Jack startles, stills, then turns red as a tomato, the round glasses making him look cuter than he usually is. Not that Jack isn’t usually cute, but he somehow manages to look even better with those golden antiquities perched on his nose. The small owl on his shoulder bristles at the sudden move and puffs until Jack offers her his hand so that she can get off of him. She perches and stills, eyes rolling, head suddenly lolling. And Gabriel recognizes the symptoms.

Shit.

Jack’s eyes are glazed over.

Crap.

Gabriel reaches and gently takes the small owl into his own (always gloved) hand, the ones perched there moving to his forearms as he moves. The poor little creature’s heart is beating slowly, struggling to keep on going. He sets her into one of the baskets on the table, knowing that she only has minutes left to live. They have to leave, now. He knows Jack won’t emerge for a few minutes, remembers what it had felt like the first time he’d done it, the sensation of electricity, life, coursing through his veins, setting him ablaze, shutting his brain down. He pulls Jack’s hand into his own, hoping that the hum they share will be enough to pull him out of his trance. A spark dances between them. He waits.

Gabriel had hoped that Jack was stabilized and wouldn’t degenerate as far as he had. He had hoped, prayed for his husband to remain human, to keep on breathing, eating, sleeping, to stay solid and not steal others energy, lives. Fucking foolish wishful dream he’d had. But if there was one thing that Gabriel was, it was prepared for anything. The owls on his forearms have moved to the table and are now surrounding the dying one, somehow sensing that something was wrong with her. He uses that opportunity and pulls a pair of gloves out of his jacket. Those gloves, just like the ones he wears, are layered with a molecular self-replicating nanomesh that prevents the bots from getting in contact with anything. Jack inhales sharply, a confused then horrified expression making its way on his face as he understands what just happened, his gaze going to the small owl then to Gabriel, and back and forth a few times.

“Gabe.” His tone is just under full blown terror, heavily laced with panic and horror.

“Put these own.”

He puts the gloves in Jack’s hand and Jack does as told, becoming more and more still as he tries to keep his panic under control. Gabriel remembers what it had been like, to discover the side effects of his ‘condition’. He grabs Jack’s forearms, locks eyes with that man he loves with everything he has. There’s a spot of brown in his eyes, a spot that wasn’t there this morning. It’s no more than a dot but it a tell-tale sign. Jack looks at him, waiting for a sign, desperate at the edges.

Gabriel grips a bit tighter. “I’ve got you. You hear me?”

Jack swallows, nods slowly, adrenaline being slowly washed away by his enhanced body and years, decades of training. “You’ve got me.”

Gabriel nods back. “We’ll get you through this. I promise.”

 

* * *

 

The cruise back to the States is both nice and tiring. Jack won’t get out of the cabin, scared of accidentally bumping into someone and killing them. Gabriel explains that ‘that’s not how that works’ and ‘don’t be ridiculous, Morrison’. He finally coerces him on the bridge with the promise of bacon dipped in honey after a few days and only succeeds because he lends some of his own clothing to Jack, but the whole thing is exhausting. Jack is tense and keeps startling whenever he brushes things or people. His jumpiness is making Gabriel jumpy, his hands drifting more than once to the gun at the small of his back, and to the knives strapped to thighs, ribs and forearms. He’s packing light, this is after all a leisure trip. At least it’s supposed to be one.

Jack won’t get anywhere near the buffet, hovering at the edges of the room like a kid who really needs to pee, in front of an occupied toilet. Gabriel dives into the crowd, mentally exhausted by it all already. He’s trying to be patient, but. It’s. Hard. Gabriel Reyes never was a very patient man. He jabs a few people viciously and comes back victorious, a plate of delicious honey-covered bacon in hand, grabs Jack and pushes him to the nearest chair, setting the plate in front of him. “Eat.”

He lets himself fall on the chair nearby, kicking the table a bit in his irritation. A couple of old people pass behind Jack and he tenses, trying to make himself smaller. Now that that’d be of any use, considering the bulk SEP’s enhancements granted them. The old couple is actually not that old, the man’s hair only greying a bit the temple, and Gabriel realizes that they could probably be considered old by others. Dios, are they old people now? His gaze drifts over the room.

“How do you do it?” Jack hisses.

Gabriel’s attention snaps back to him. “Do what.”

The tone of his voice is. Not nice. He sighs, pinches the bridge of his nose. It’s not Jack’s fault that he’s in such a surly mood. Gabriel just feels… helpless, because there’s nothing he can do to help Jack, not really. He can round some of the edges, make sure that Jack (and those surrounding him) is safe, walk him through the stages. But ultimately, Gabriel can’t. Do. Anything. And it makes him angry.

He speaks again, his voice much softer. “Do what, Jack.”

Jack chuckles sheepishly. “You don’t call me by my name much.”

There’s understanding in his eyes, as if he knows what Gabriel is going through. He really doesn’t deserve this husband of his, does he.

Jack glances around, still hunched on himself. “How do you ignore it.”

Gabriel’s brows furrow.

“The-” Jack takes a breath. “I can feel them, Gabe.”

Oh. That. Gabriel’s gaze drifts back to the crowd. “I’ve grown used to it, I guess. It’s just-” He searches for the word. “Intel. Data. I ignore it unless I need it.” He shrugs, turns back to Jack.

There’s something like wonder dancing on his face and he smiles, still a bit uneasy but it’s like a sun finally shining through clouds. His sunshine. Gabriel relaxes, leaning in his chair more comfortably and nudges Jack’s leg gently.

“You should eat before it gets cold, dear.”

Jack’s smile is more genuine now. He pulls Gabe’s hand (gloved always gloved) into his own hands (gloved too now, sheathed in one of Gabe’s many pairs).

“Gabriel.”

“Si, mi sol?” Jack blushes furiously at the pet name, the tip of his ears turning red. He looks so cute.

“I love you. Dunno what I’d do without you.” He has relaxed a bit, soft eyes and quiet smile.

Gabriel snorts a laugh. “Love you too, sunshine.” He nudges his leg again, a smirk on his lips. “Now eat, you doof.”

There’s only so much adorableness he can take before he lets himself bend Jack on that table.


	3. Ballad of the gunslinger

 

They rent a car. It’s an horrible, old and broken-down thing, that must be at least a century old, metal armature visible and giant tires _(who uses tires anymore)_ , but the man at the counter doesn’t ask questions and, with enough cash pushed under his nose, smiles and doesn’t ask for papers or anything. The ride will be long. Better get comfortable.

So, Jack lays his legs on Gabe’s thighs, his partner’s hand coming to rest on his ankle almost instantly. Habits. They’ve danced this dance for about a decade. It’s all habits by now, the only things that changes being their destination or the reason for their trip. Gabe wants to pass by the Deadlock Canyon, before they reach L.A, for some reason, and Jack is still- He feels too wound up, too tight, like something is stretching, crawling under his skin, slowly filling him until he bursts.

Jack sighs, earning a glance from his husband. That is new. Not that Gabe never looked at him, but the looks are now filled with concern, and something darker that swims and dances in his eyes, a barely hinted feeling that sends shivers running down Jack’s spine. The trip is long, the road dusty, the air suffocatingly hot. They would probably take much less time if they’d taken a hovercraft but the regulations for those were much tighter and- Jack sighs again, rubbing his neck. No point in thinking of what-ifs and unavailable possibilities but he’s feeling so restless. There’s this low hum under his skin. It’s the same that’s been ghosting at the edge of his mind each time he’s touched Gabriel ever since the virus changed them both, but now, it’s constant. It’s always there, a faint buzzing in his fingers, an almost inaudible hum in his ears. He clenches his jaw, trying to pop his ears for what seems to be the millionth time.

“Something the matter?” Gabe’s voice is aiming for calm but he sounds worried.

“Got this… humming sound in my ears. And I can’t get rid of it.”

And Gabe sighs. Shifts. Relaxes a bit, even though there’s a muscle playing in his jaw. Jack’s gotten pretty good at reading people, and he’s even better at it when it comes to Gabriel. His husband knows exactly what he’s talking about. It probably has to do with the nanobots then.

“Remember the first week after we got infected?”

Jack hums in answer.

“Couldn’t sleep no matter what I did. I was going crazy.”

“Yeah. I had to punch you to sleep.”

Gabe nods absentmindedly. “It was the noise. The bots. They- I don’t know but they make this little sound. Can’t really hear it normally but-”

“They were in your whole body. In your ears.”

“Yeah.” Gabriel shakes his head softly. “I’m used to it now, but back then, it was a fucking nightmare.”

Jack swallows. The first months after they’d been changed by the virus, things had been hellish. Not for Jack really, who just had to learn the new found limitations of his own body, but for Gabe. He nods tightly. At least now, they know what to expect. Jack’s gaze drift off to the horizon, his mind starting to wander again when he feels a hand squeeze his calf. He turns his eyes back to his lover and is met with the most gentle of smiles. A smile he doesn’t see half as often as he wish he could. A blush blooms on his face instantly. The smile turns sly and Jack huffs then chuckles.

“You’re an ass.”

“Yes, but you love this ass.”

And they’re both grinning as the road keeps stretching endlessly in front of them.

The road is long, yes, but they love every damn minute of it.

 

* * *

 

The car breaks down.

It’s no surprise really, but still, Gabriel had really hoped it would last them at least until they reached the canyon. He can see it in the distance, a stretch of reddish rock, looming, so close and yet too far. It would take them more than a few hours to get there on foot, and that’s if they ran all the way there. They’d be exhausted and easy to take out once they arrived. If the heat had not killed them before.

Gabe sighs and glances at Jack, who built some sort of tent with a few ropes and one of their emergency blanket, giving them some shade to rest under and freeing them of the death trap the overheated vehicle has turned into. His husband smiles reassuringly and Gabe feels the corner of his lips lift a bit in answer. He dives back under the hood. Sighs again.

He knows the ins and outs of practically any gun, can repair tanks and turrets and has a decent level of hacking skills. He once killed a man with a pair of chopsticks while nursing a broken arm. But for all of that, Gabe has no idea of how cars work. He gets that they run on energy and that old models had tires, but that’s about as far as his knowledge of car mechanics extends. He’s been looking at the engine for a solid hour and still has no idea what broke. Is it that thing over there, covered in cables, or that one, that’s letting a steady stream of steam out? Or maybe that one underneath that’s been clunking ominously but with the regularity of a pendulum ever since he opened the hood? He passes a hand on his face and is about to sigh again, when he feels a hand on his lower back, and turns his head to see sky blue eyes (with a soft spot of brown on each iris) and a tired smile.

“Still no idea?” Gabriel shakes his head, a mix of exhaustion and frustration keeping his mouth shut. The air is hot all around them but it’s downright scalding this close to the engine. “Lemme have a look?” Gabe nods. He’s too tired to argue, so he just leans away to the side a bit and closes his eyes, enjoying the wave of fresher air that hits his face. He can hear Jack shuffling stuff around but he is currently too busy enjoying the fresh air to care much. All he wants is to reach the gorges, he thinks, as he recalls that the caves the Deadlock Gang had excavated all over the place were blissfully cold. There’s a hiss and Gabe snaps back to the present. Jack leans away from the engine all of a sudden and has the time to shout “I haven’t touched anything!” with a slightly panicked look before all hell breaks loose.

Something shrieks and snaps inside the engine and there’s a sudden burst of steam that drowns them both in a wet inferno. Gabriel starts coughing and he can hear his husband coughing too. The engine clanks and clunks and whirs ominously now, and Gabe would do something but he can’t see a thing and, while he doesn’t really need to breathe, the saturated air that pushed into his lungs feels suffocating. Gabe exhales forcefully. Breathing isn’t something he has trained out of himself yet, a part of his brain insisting on the fact that he had to breathe and that he would die without air. It was nothing but residual instinct, but he knew that it eased Jack’s mind to be able to check rapidly whether Gabe was still alive or not after a terrifying nightmare. He knew that, because he did the same thing.

Gabriel let his nanobots feel around the engine, stretching them in a thick mist, searching for a breach, for something that would explain, well, this. There. The bots weave the metal back together and through the groans and heavy whirs of the engine, Gabriel hears a set of boots approaching. The steps are heavy, way too heavy to belong to Jack. Gabe snaps back up and meets golden brown eyes, that widen in recognition, a ridiculous hat, facial hair that hasn’t been taken care of in ages and a mouth that opens, cigar falling away from dry lips. “Jefe?”

More than anything else, the punch is a reflex.

 

* * *

 

There’s sound.

“I reacted badly, okay!?”

“Reacted badly? You just punched McCree unconscious because he surprised you.”

_Two people… arguing? So loud. Can’t they go do that somewhere else?_

“I might be a bit jumpy.”

“A bit?”

“Oh, shut up.” _Yes, please do. Both of you._

“Not happening remember?” _Ugh._

“I hate you, Morrison.” _Wait._

“No you don’t.” _WAIT. WAIT A MOTHERFUCKING MINUTE._

Jesse’s eyes snap open and he groans, closing them right back. He cracks one open again but much slower and fuck, he never expected to see Gabriel goddamn Reyes and Jack fucking Morrison looming over him with matching concerned expressions. He groans again. “Ain’t you s'posed to be dead?” If he had any doubt that that was Reyes, the snorted laugh his comment earns him would have vanished it away. A hand raises him back to a sitting position and Gabe is there, checking his eyes and pulse.

“ ‘m fine, jefe.”

“I hit you pretty hard there, m’ijo. Just checking for a concussion.”

Apart from the head splitting headache that’s wrecking his brain and a vague ache in his cheek and jaw, Jesse’s feeling mighty fine. The old man steps away from him after a few more looks at his pupils. “Seems good.” Jack looks relieved. Jesse frowns. Something not right here. “What’s going on?”

His two Commanders _(is it right to still think of them as such, considering Overwatch no longer exists?)_ exchange a look and a light shrug. Jack tilts his head back to him, gaze gentle but confused.

“Are you talking about how not dead we are?”

Gabriel’s gaze is piercing, observing Jesse like a hawk, silent but intense.

“Yes- wait, no no.” Jack’s brows furrow. Jesse huffs. “I’m talking about how Reyes is all touchy and gentle and- the fuck are you hoverin’ in the back for?”

Gabe bursts out laughing. It’s an ugly thing, full of half choked snorts and long inhales of air, the blanks in between filled by sudden barks of laughter. Jack smiles apologetically. He punches Gabe’s shoulder not so lightly when the man leans on him to try and breathe, Reyes wiping a tear away as he does so.

Jesse narrows his eyes. “Are you two hookin’ up?” Jack buries his face into his hands as Gabriel’s laughter starts anew. “About damn time.”

Jesse gets up on shaky legs and lights a cigar. The air is cool and smells like metal and gunpowder. They’re back to the tunnels his gang had dug in the mountain, back the day. He can guess that they took his car to get here, what with the fact that their broken car had been the thing to lure him out of hiding. He takes a few drags from the cigar then points out something that’s been bothering him from the start. “What’s up with the gloves though?”

Because both Commanders are wearing the same type of gloves. And while Reyes was the type to wear gloves almost as often as he wore that godawful beanie, or that horrid threadbare hoodie, Jack Morrison was the type to trek around in a tee and pants, arms never covered, at most wearing a light jacket when it rained, body running too hot all the time. Gabriel stops laughing, a big grin still on his face. Jack is a bit pink around the ears.

“Lots of catch up to be done, kid. But, first things first.” Gabe is serious again and Jesse stands at attention, years of training and working for that man snapping back into him all at once. Jack smirks and Gabriel snorts. Jesse can only groan. “You heard about the Recall right? Not joining back?”

The cowboy frowns deeply. “I got your last message. ‘Don’t trust anyone’ Figured that included Overwatch.”

Gabe nods and opens his mouth but Jack cuts him off.

“Wait. Is that why you had us make a detour through your office?”

Reyes tries to smile his way out of it but Jack is having none of that. The white haired man _(when had his hair turned white exactly, not like the guy’s that old)_ throws his arms into the air and crosses them over his chest, rubbing his eyes with his index and his thumb. Gabriel whispers sweet nothings, switching between English and Spanish as he pleads.

And Jesse. Jesse observes the way they dance around each other now. It’s different. There are gestures, looks that are the same as they were back then. But the rest is different, more profound, intimate, close in the way only people who are sharing everything can be. It’s there in the way Jack’s gaze is fond behind the mock annoyance, in how Gabriel’s smile lights his eyes from within even as he makes dramatic faces and whispers into Jack’s ear. It hovers in the air around them, sweet and gentle and warm and so utterly them. It feels... It feels like home.

Jack finally relents with an amused huff and they return to him, matching warmth radiating from them. Yeah, he missed something alright. Gabriel smirks. “We need to talk. Then, we need to plan.”

 

* * *

 

They decide to head to the nearest town. Gabriel will be able to find a car there and the three of them will part ways, Jack and Jesse heading to join Overwatch, to keep an eye on things from the inside. Meanwhile, Gabe will head back to Talon and pick a new contract there. His mercenary persona is fickle, moody and often disappears for no reason, so no-one will question anything. They never do. _(Sometimes he wonders how Talon can be so powerful when they employ people so dumb, but then he remembers that Talon isn't the real problem)_

The town is small, the streets mostly empty at this hour. They park and Jack heads inside the shop to rent a car. Jesse fell asleep on the back seat during the trip. He is barely waking up, yawning and stretching. Gabe leaves him to it and stretches his legs by strolling around. He’s got more than a couple of hours of road ahead of him and he’s going to be traveling on his own this time. He’s worried about Jack. His husband is barely used to his new ability. What if his state evolves again, and Gabe’s not there to guide him? He grits his teeth. He could use a distraction right now.

It’s the middle of the afternoon and the town is silent, except for a booming laugh coming from somewhere nearby. Gabriel heads that way. He passes through a small alley, filled with shadows, and ends up in a parallel street.There’s another car, two people around it and- wait is that Reinhardt? Gabriel stops, halfway out of the dark alley and stares, thoughts storming as he does so. What is the German doing here? Did he answer the Recall? He probably did. Does that mean Overwatch found them? Have they been discovered? Shit. He doesn’t have enough intel to make real conclusions at this point. All he can do right now, is stay hidden and watch. So it’s what he does.

It is Reinhardt, all 250 pounds of muscle bowed back in laughter. The old man is accompanied by a tall woman with black hair and tanned skin. The body is fit, the posture, straight, military trained. Gabriel kept tabs on some of the members of Overwatch _(not all of them obviously, at the end there were way too many agents for one man to manage to keep tabs on them, all while dismantling a terrorist organization)_ so he recognizes her. Fareeha. She goes by Pharah these days, but he can still see traces of the young girl in the strong willed woman she became. A fond smile curves his lips.

The pair is talking, leaning and pointing at a bunch of papers. Gabriel can’t tell from this distance what the papers are about exactly and it annoys him. Reinhardt waves dismissively at something Fareeha says and the pair grabs one of the papers and heads toward a building that looks like a bar. As they disappear within the building, Gabriel glides forward, letting his bots do that thing where they dissolve and move faster than air. The sensation is a bit like dashing forward, except for the part where he has no body and it makes it look like he’s teleporting from one point to the other. He forms back next to the car.

The papers are all about McCree: his past with the Deadlock gang, how Gabriel had found him and how the kid had joined Blackwatch. They’re not after Jack or him, they’re after Jesse. Well, this makes things easier. Gabriel grins suddenly. _‘How about… oh it’s been a while but the distraction should be worth the hassle.’_ He lets his body collapse again and dashes back to Jesse’s car.

It’s a bad idea, it’s a terrible idea, but Gabriel is going to be separated from his husband, and for the first time in a decade, he has no idea how long they’ll be apart. To be honest, he feels like crap. And if he is to feel so bad, why wouldn’t he make someone else feel like shit.

Jesse squeaks, scrambling to get to a seated position. “Fuck! I know you said you could do that but fuck, it’s fucking disturbing.” Gabriel chuckles, searching for the packet of sweets he keeps near the wheel. _‘C’mon c’mon.’_

“Boss?”

Right.

“Reinhardt and Fareeha are in a street nearby. They’re looking for you. Get Jack into his gear and head that way.”

Before he’s finished talking, Jesse is out of the car, grabbing the bag that contains Jack’s Soldier 76 outfit. The kid nods and heads into the shop Jack disappeared into some time ago. Gabriel finally finds the small pouch. “Fucking finally.” He dashes, back to the shadowed alley at first, to check if the pair has already returned to their car, then to the car, when it’s clear that they haven’t. He smiles to himself as he puts the pouch on the hood of the car and dashes back to the shadows of the alley. All he has to do now, is wait. He chuckles softly.

It’s something only Fareeha, Jack and him would understand. The sweets he left there were Fareeha’s favourite brand. Before Overwatch fell, Gabe used to slip her small pouches filled with sweets secretly, often with the help of Jack, acting as a decoy to keep Ana distracted as her daughter hid the sweets away. It’s a bit of an ass move but Gabriel needs a distraction. Might as well roll a good deed into a bad prank to keep himself busy.

Fareeha steps outside of the bar, Reinhardt still inside and returns to the car. She frowns as she spots the small packet. She’s not turned his way when she opens it, revealing the round blue sweets but her whole body tenses. He can imagine she must be pretty surprised. What he didn’t quite expect is the way her head snaps up and around, searching for something. Searching for him, he realizes all of a sudden. He doesn’t have time to vanish as she spots him, lazily leaning against a wall.

Crap.

She starts walking his way, her brows furrowed and he can’t help himself and teases her further. He raises a hand, putting a finger on his lips in a ‘Shhh’ gesture. _‘It’s just our secret’_ Her steps falter, then pick up speed. She’s running now. He turns around and walks into the shadows, turning into mist the moment he’s out of sight, slithering, hiding into the cracks and shadows of the dark alley.

Less than a heartbeat later, she’s there, looking around wildly. There’s something on her face, bitter and sweet, a bit broken and yet, hopeful. She looks, but there’s nothing to be seen. A call rings from the direction of her car. She lingers, buries her emotions under a layer of steel, then turns and heads back.

Well, that went well.

Gabriel considers as he walks back to Jesse’s car. The kid’s and Jack’s bags are gone. They were probably the ones who called Fareeha back to the car. Thanks to him, Fareeha will be too unfocused to see the glaring holes of whatever bullshit story those two idiots came up with to explain their presence here. Good. An unexpected positive side to Gabriel’s meddling. And he got his distraction too. He grins, a show of teeth directed to no-one.

Things are moving.

Things are finally moving.

And they’re moving fast.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The candy thing is based on [this idea](https://gunnslaughter.tumblr.com/tagged/in-which-pharah-secretly-mourns-gabe) by [gunnslaughter](https://gunnslaughter.tumblr.com)


End file.
